February 10, 2025 — Nordic Aquafarms’ seven-year quest to build a major recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) salmon farm in Belfast, Maine, came to an end in January 2025, when the company announced it was cancelling its plans after Maine’s Supreme Judicial Court ruled the firm did not legally own a parcel of intertidal land through which it needed to run pipes for the project.
The case was brought before the court by Belfast residents Jeffrey Mabee and Judith Grace, who argued that they were the rightful owners of the disputed land, which the company had previously attempted to purchase and then sought to claim through eminent domain.